Into the Night
by Commander
Summary: Two strange children from another world arrive as unwitting threats to the Earth, and so three friends are tasked with stopping them and protecting their city. Origin story.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Well, here it is, finally, My own take on the PJ Masks' origin story.

I actually started writing this shortly after finishing posting my first PJ Masks story, which was nearly a year ago. Kind of pathetic how long it took me to write this, really. For the first few months my progress was very slow, and then I suddenly got sidetracked by two completely different fandoms and two or three different fanfic ideas for each of those, one of which I actually started writing. Then I got sidetracked _again_ by yet another completely different series and more fanfic ideas, one of which I not only started writing, but finished and posted. AND THEN I encountered yet _another_ show that took over all of my inspiration and fanfic-plot-formulating. It was a very interesting few months lol. I've been afraid to watch anything new since then out of fear that I'll get sidetracked/obsessed yet again… I want to get at least _some_ of the probably dozen story ideas I formulated in those months written down first before getting bombarded with even more ideas!

Anyway, once that died down a bit, I was finally able to finish this, through sheer force of will more than anything else. The sad thing is, this story really isn't all that long, especially coming from me. It's five chapters, plus an epilogue. And I'm not sure how happy I am with the final product; however, given how long of a haul the writing of this was, I feel like I should post it so that I at least have something to show for how long this has been in the works.

And yes, it is an origin story. I know I'm not the first to tackle this, and I know other authors have gone into the PJ's origins both before I started writing this and during. The only origin story in this fandom I have read is Bouken Dutch's, and while there are a few basic similar story elements (mostly by coincidence), I took care to take a different approach with mine, drawing some inspiration from the original Les Pyjamasques book series but mostly from my own thoughts and ideas. Again, I haven't read any others PJ origin fanfics, so if this is similar to anyone else's story, then it's simply a coincidence.

I'll post chapters every few days—the fic's short length means that it won't take me very long to finish lol.

I hope you enjoy! Please feel free to review with any comments, questions, or critiques you may have. :)

…

Space.

Its vast emptiness is a desolate void in which to seek refuge. And yet many do, as the very vastness of that void makes it an ideal hiding place.

Queen Frilu of the planet Ahjom was not so lucky, however.

Her sorceress, Bihsuni, had alerted her as soon as she'd sensed the presence of their pursuers, and one glance at the monitor was all it took to confirm the grave warning. The king, Frilu's husband, had discovered her betrayal. He had followed her.

And there was only one fate that awaited traitors to the Ahjomite empire. Even if the traitor was its own queen.

Frilu sighed in resignation as she studied the fleet sent to annihilate them. Their ships were larger, stronger than her own cruiser with which she had left the planet. They'd be in range to destroy her and her ship long before she was in range to fire any defensive shots. And they'd be in range before she could safely land on the planet Earth, where she had hoped to flee.

There was no escape.

The softest of sighs echoed her own. Frilu turned her head to find Bihsuni hovering at her side, perched atop her hoverboard. "I was right, wasn't I," she said, her inflection not really indicating any sort of question.

Frilu nodded anyway. "Unfortunately… yes." She glanced at her sorceress, the one true confidant and friend to whom she had been able to disclose her desire to stop, or at the very least to get away from, the increasingly genocidal ways of their people. Earth had seemed a good bet; the Ahjomites had attempted a takeover there over a thousand of their years ago, but strong warriors had driven them away. But even the threat of the aliens' further resistance hadn't been enough to deter her people. Frilu was hardly surprised. She had been well aware that her defection could very well seal her death. Her worries, at that moment, lay elsewhere. They lay with Bihsuni's fate. With the fate of her faithful Zigli servants.

With the fate of her son, and Bihsuni's daughter.

"Where are the children?" she asked Bihsuni.

"They are playing with the Zigli." Bihsuni's face betrayed no emotions. "The maintenance pods should send them to the planet's surface safely."

"Can—"

"No. The pods are only large enough for the children. Not for us."

Frilu's heart sank, but she kept a brave face. "We must get them off the ship and send them to the planet. It is their only chance."

"I agree." Bihsuni turned away from the monitors and hovered back down the hallway, and Frilu, seeing no reason to sit and watch her imminent demise, followed her. "And we must wipe their memories. If they remember any of this, or what is about to happen, it would be too traumatic."

Frilu drew in her breath. "That seems a bit extreme…"

"We're about to _die, _Your Highness. Of _course _it's extreme." Bihsuni pressed her hand against a control pad and opened a door, revealing their two children, oblivious to all the strife and turmoil surrounding their mothers, laughing as they wrestled each other, the small Zigli royal servants laughing and cheering them on.

Frilu's composure finally was stripped away as the urgency and finality of their situation slammed into her. "Trokim," she whispered.

Her son perked up at the sound of his name, although giving his mother only the vaguest of smiles. "Mother, can I order Soroly to always let me win at wrestling?"

"You'll always lose as long as I have my sorcery magnet!" Soroly responded tauntingly, waving said orb-like magnet in his face.

Bihsuni was not as stunted with grief as her queen was. "Come, Soroly," she said abruptly, grabbing her daughter by the shoulders and leading her down the next hallway, where a pair of pods for outer maintenance of the queen's vessel lay, until now only used by the Zigli for various repairs on the ship's exterior. "You have to go."

"Go where?" Soroly demanded in protest. "We're in _space!"_

"Exactly," Bihsuni said, opening the pod door and shoving her daughter inside.

Soroly yelped in terror, a clear note of panic in her voice. "No! _Trokim!" _she shrieked, reaching out for her friend.

Forcefully, Bihsuni shoved Soroly to the floor of the pod and whipped out her magnet, activating it to hold Soroly in place. "I'm sorry, my daughter, but there is no other way."

"_Soroly!" _Trokim cried out, making a move towards the pods. Frilu grabbed him and held him tight, her tears trickling down his fine, white hair as Bihsuni spoke the memory wipe incantation.

"You can't wipe her memory," Frilu begged. "There must be another way. She and Trokim will forget each other…"

"They will find each other again," Bihsuni declared once finishing the chant, Soroly now in a half-conscious, trancelike state. Her mother gently pressed her fingers to her forehead. "And I will give them all the knowledge that the Empire has of Earth." She stroked back a wisp of her daughter's sparkling white hair, her voice breaking for the first time. "I am sorry, my dear Soroly. I wish I could do more for you." She placed Soroly's sorcery magnet on her chest, and then, almost as an afterthought, placed her own hoverboard on her chest as well before quickly sealing the pod and pressing a button on the side panel. The pod ejected from the ship and went spinning down towards the small blue planet in the distance.

"No! _Soroly!" _Trokim screamed, struggling against his mother. "What did you do to her?!"

Trembling, Bihsuni motioned for Trokim.

"Please, no—Mother, help me!" Trokim pleaded.

Frilu sobbed as she relinquished Trokim to Bihsuni. "This is the only way, Trokim. I'm so sorry. I love you!"

"No!" screamed Trokim, only able to make one step back towards his mother before Bihsuni caught him in her magnet's beam.

The Zigli servants gathered around Frilu, their voices a concerned din of protests.

"Your Highness, what's going on?"

"Are we in danger, Your Highness?"

"You can't send him there alone."

Frilu gazed at the Zigli, their faces showing their determination to continue to serve their young charge no matter what the consequences, even as Bihsuni began the memory wipe spell on him. She nodded heavily. "Those that wish, go with him. Serve him. Take care of him. And don't tell him the truth until the time is right."

The Zigli leaped into the pod with their young prince in twos, cramming themselves into the tight space, their movements throwing Bihsuni off of her already shaky spell.

A shudder shook through the ship.

"Eject them, _now!" _Frilu demanded.

Bihsuni released the magnet's beam on the semiconscious prince, the small Zigli crowding around him in the small pod as best they could, and she quickly sealed the pod door and launched it towards the planet as well, trailing after the pod containing her daughter.

She looked towards Frilu, shaken. "The spell may not have worked perfectly… the memory wipe may not have been one hundred percent complete."

"As long as they survive," Frilu said firmly. "That's all that's important. I—I'm sorry that I'm unable to say the same for you. I'm sorry that you will pay the ultimate price for my actions."

"You are my queen; I will follow you to the end… obviously." Bihsuni finally gave Frilu a shaky, yet defiant smile. "Besides, I was hating the way the empire was heading just as much as you were."

Frilu smiled back, reaching out to grasp Bihsuni's hand as another shockwave ripped through the ship, and their grip tightened as everything fell apart in fiery explosions around them and plummeted towards Earth.

…

The summer evening breeze wafted through the open window as six-year-old Connor Landry sketched an impression of the leaves dancing outside the window.

For nearly every other activity, Connor hated sitting still. Life was in constant motion and the young boy hated to miss any second of it, often even leaving his two best friends (and neighbors) Amaya Devereaux and Greg Simon in the dust. The only thing he couldn't understand was why everyone _else _ambled along so slowly. Why wait?

But when sketching and drawing, time slowed down. Connor's eye for detail was strong enough to overpower his usual fast pace. Every stroke of his pencil was careful and deliberate. Of course, being only six years old, his work wasn't going to be hanging in museums yet, but it still held more care and precision than what most other kids his age could do.

The leaves rustled again in the breeze, pulling Connor's attentions away from his sketchpad and out his bedroom window once more, noticing for the first time how dark it had gotten. His mom had told him to go to bed a full half an hour ago, at least… and even though it was a long June day, the sun had finally set. Surprised, Connor closed his sketchbook and placed it on his nightstand, yawning a bit with sudden fatigue. How long had he been drawing, anyway? Good thing his pajamas were already on and his teeth had been brushed.

A small walkie-talkie to the side of this sketchbook cracked to life. "Come in, Connor."

Connor grinned, picking it up and pressing the button. "Hey Greg. What's up?"

Greg's voice sounded rather sheepish. "I think I might have left my bicycle helmet at your house."

A third voice cut in with an amused giggle. "Oh, Greg," Amaya laughed. "That's the third time this week."

"Only the second!" Greg protested. "Yesterday I found it like a minute after I asked you about it, so that one doesn't count. Anyway, Connor, is it in your room?"

"I don't see it, but let me double-check." Connor slid off his bed and glanced at his nightstand to confirm that it wasn't there before plodding over towards his desk.

"I might have left it downstairs in your living room," Greg admitted, "and I know you're probably supposed to already be asleep now, so I don't expect you to leave your room to go check, I just thought on the off-chance that it might be in your room…"

"I still don't—" Connor's scan of his room halted suddenly when his eyes reached his desk. "…see it," he finished quietly, surprised at what he _did _see.

It was small and blue, the same dark blue of his pajamas, and it looked to be like some sort of bracelet or wristband. Taking a step closer to examine it, he saw a symbol on it that looked similar to a cat's face. He held a hand poised in the air, feeling strongly compelled to touch the newfound object, and yet hesitating due to just how _odd _it was. "Hey, guys?" he asked unsteadily. "Did one of you lose a blue bracelet?" Which seemed like a silly question when the bracelet was _his _favorite color and adorned with a symbol of _his _favorite animal… Connor couldn't shake the feeling that this wristband had been made specifically for _him, _but… that was impossible, right?

"I haven't," Greg said.

"Me neither," Amaya said. "Why do you…"

Her voice trailed off, and Connor felt the nervous pit in his stomach double in size. "Uh, Amaya?" he asked.

"This… this is weird." Amaya's voice crackled over the walkie-talkie with more than just static. "There's a red bracelet on my nightstand that I've never seen before. I… don't suppose it's yours?"

Connor drew in his breath. "No. Is… is there a cat symbol on it?"

"No, it—it looks like some sort of bird."

"Wait a minute," Connor exclaimed, his brain finally grasping an explanation that still inexplicably felt off. "Did you leave these here for us, Greg? Are these surprise presents or something?"

"No, they're not from me," Greg said, sounding a touch confused himself. "Are you sure you guys didn't have these before—oh, NO WAY!"

"You have one too?!" Connor yelped.

"Yeah—it's green, and it looks like there's a lizard symbol on it." Greg's tone of voice was now as alarmed as his two friends'. "I've never seen this before in my life! This is freaky! Where did it come from?"

"What should we do?" Amaya asked urgently.

"I—I don't know," Connor admitted. "Should we tell our parents?"

"Why would we tell them?" Amaya questioned. "And what could they do about it?"

"They should know if—if someone's breaking into our houses and leaving things," Connor explained, uneasily.

"Don't most people who break into houses _take _things instead of _leave _things?" Greg pointed out.

"Maybe it _was _our parents who left them," Connor offered, trying to again ignore the feeling that the words coming out of his mouth were one hundred percent untrue. "Maybe they left them for us as a surprise gift or something."

"I don't know, Connor," Amaya admitted, her voice betraying a hesitant anxiety. "I just… have this weird feeling that these weren't left here by anyone we know."

"Me too," Greg admitted.

Connor gulped. Whatever unexplained intuition he had about this wristband was shared by his friends. "Me too."

There was silence for a few moments.

"I… I feel like I should touch it," Amaya finally said, tentatively.

"Yeah… it feels like mine's calling out to me," Greg added, his voice shaky. "What… what should we do?"

Connor gripped his walkie-talkie in his hand, his eyes growing wide. Why were they waiting for his permission? Were they waiting for his guidance just because he was older than them? He wasn't even that _much _older than them—they were all in the same grade, after all!

"Let's touch them together," he finally decided, hoping that his voice sounded brave enough for their sakes. "On the count of three. Are you ready?"

"Ready," said Amaya.

"Ready," said Greg.

They were nervous, Connor could hear it in their voices, so he'd have to be brave enough for all three of them.

"Alright. On three. One… two… THREE!"

He quickly grabbed the wristband by the cat symbol, and the whole room spun in a blaze of blue.


	2. Chapter 2

A few miles away, in the woods outside the city limits…

The moonlight shone brightly upon the small capsule that was lodged in the dirt right next to a riverbank. A single tree grew above it, positioned in such a way that caused no obstruction from the brilliant full moon that night.

The young girl in the capsule roused slowly, the moonbeams giving her only just enough energy to attempt the movement, not able to wake up any faster. Pushing against the front of the pod, it popped open, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes as she waited for things to become clearer.

Where was she, anyway?

_Who _was she?

She moved her hands away from her eyes, blinking, waiting for the answer to come. Because it had to come.

But nothing.

She was aware of some things—that she was a girl, and she was in the woods, and it was nighttime, and the moon was a comforting presence to her. But it was information that was all seemingly just dumped into her brain, as she had no memory of anything from earlier than a minute ago when she had woken up, and she knew that that made no sense.

The girl's hands slid along the sides of the capsule, touching something smooth and metallic at her side. She picked it up, hoping that it would offer some sort of explanation to her existence, but instead it raised even more questions. At least the other things around her she knew what they were. But she had no idea what this was. It was crescent shaped, with an orb in the center, and fit comfortably in her grasp.

"Ooooo….kay," the girl said aloud, hearing her voice for the first time and shuddering a bit at how odd and harsh it sounded against the night air.

Quickly, she scrambled out of her pod (she wasn't quite sure what _that _was either; it couldn't be her home, could it?), nearly tripping on another metallic object. Once her feet were firmly planted on the ground she hoisted it out to examine it. It was flat and in a half moon shape, much larger than the first trinket she had discovered with her. Again, she was clueless as to what it was and thus, it offered no hints as to her identity.

The girl leaned back over the capsule to look for any other objects, but there was nothing. She groaned, trying not to panic. What was she supposed to do now?

Taking a few deep breaths, the girl tried to calm herself, one fist clenched against her smaller trinket and the other first tight at her side. She had obviously lost her memories somehow, so she'd just have to find her family and have them tell her who she was, and where she was, and what had happened.

If only she could remember anything about her _family, _either…

"Hello?" she called out tentatively, looking around at the seemingly empty forest. "Is… is anyone looking for me?"

Silence.

"Hello?!" she cried out again, her voice rising sharply with fright. "Isn't there someone out there?"

She took a few terrified steps backwards and stumbled over an unseen log, falling over on her back. "Aaah!" she screamed.

A startled chirping sound answered her, and the girl drew in her breath, hardly daring to believe that she'd finally gotten at least _some _kind of response.

A swarm of moths billowed out of the stump, giving the girl what seemed to be curious, confused expressions.

The girl bit her lip. Moths wouldn't be able to actually answer her, would they? They were just mindless insects. (And why did she seem to know so much about moths and forests and how things should be and yet knew nothing of herself?!) "Do… do _you _know who I am?" she asked them.

The moths exchanged glances amongst themselves before chirping in the negative, shaking their tiny heads "no".

"Ugh!" the girl cried out angrily. "You're no help at all!"

The moths chirped apologetically and sympathetically, but the girl paid them no mind, furiously stomping off to the edge of the riverbank and kicking a rock into the water. It was looking more and more that she wasn't going to get any answers, and she let that thought anger her, because the alternative was to let it terrify her.

The ripples from the rock slowly smoothed out, gradually revealing the girl's reflection, and even that gave her pause. For how little she knew about everything, she was still aware on some level that she looked… off. Her hair was white as snow and seemed to literally shimmer in the moonlight. She seemed to be wearing something that looked like a uniform or a costume, with cape-like flares past her torso.

She studied her reflection, watching her expression morph to one of sad realization as she pieced together what little information she had about herself.

"I'm a freak, aren't I?"

The moths chirped a comforting reply, causing the girl to jump a bit as she had almost forgotten they were still there. _We don't think so, _they seemed to answer her.

And the girl's brow knitted, their answer only confirming the opposite.

"I look different, I have these weird gadgets, and I can apparently talk to moths. I'm a total freak. That must be why I was abandoned here." She looked back at her reflection, her bitter, dejected expression seeming to agree with her conclusion.

The moths all looked at each other before "speaking" to the girl again, as if one large entity rather than dozens of tiny small ones.

_We don't know any more than you do, dear girl. But we do know that it's not good for anyone to be alone. We'll stay with you. You are now an honorary moth._

The girl finally felt the strange sensation of one corner of her mouth tugging upwards into a half smile. "That's better than nothing, I guess… Thanks, guys."

The moths twittered comfortingly, swirling around the girl's face and brushing the tip of her nose, and she giggled at the sensation.

"Alright, alright, enough with the mushy stuff," she snickered, lightly waving them away from her face. "I'm still gonna find out who I am." She lifted her right arm, the corresponding hand still clutching her mysterious device, and despite still not knowing anything regarding what it was or where it came from, she still felt herself smile more genuinely, knowing at the very least that she liked the way it fit in her palm.

"Now let's see what this thing can do…"

…

Unbeknownst to the girl once called Soroly and her newfound moth companions, the twin to her own escape pod had landed quite a few miles away from her own, yet still within reasonable walking distance to the same town—simply from the opposite side. The landing was a rough one, and the force of the impact caused the Zigli to pop out of the pod wildly. Their screeches filled the air as they dexterously righted themselves and desperately tried to assess their new situation.

"_Are you alright?"_

"_Are we alright?"_

"_Where exactly are we?"_

"_This planet's called Earth, right?"_

"_The prince! IS THE PRINCE ALRIGHT?!"_

This last one caused all of the Zigli to shriek in alarm and race back to the pod, for after all, serving their prince was their main purpose in life. And never had that been the case more than now, when they were literally all that he had.

They circled the pod and desperately begged their prince to wake up, their high-pitched voices a frenzied, muddled roar of noise.

Now, the Zigli had been mostly ignorant to the specifics of Bihsuni's memory wiping and replacing spell to begin with—and even then, the fact that the spell had been interrupted and likely hadn't been one hundred percent effective was knowledge that they didn't possess. If they had, they would have known to be extra cautious and diligent with their young prince, for it was really anyone's guess as to what he would and would not remember upon waking up.

And much to the Zigli's relief, the boy did stir, his bright teal eyes fluttering open before snapping wide open in shock.

"_WHO THE HECK ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"_

He shot out of the pod, flipping and leaping through the air before landing deftly on a single foot, and the Zigli cheered, glad that he at least seemed to remember all of his royal acrobatics training.

The prince, despite his shock at where he was, seemed pleased at the approval of his diminutive audience, and grinned smugly at the attention. A second later, however, the reminder that he had no idea who they were, or where he was, or _who _he was, slammed right back into him, roughly tossing his ego aside once more. "Wait, who are you guys? Who am _I?" _His hands shot up to his head and gripped his shimmering snow-white hair. "I don't remember _anything!"_

The Zigli, worriedly, shot questioning glances amongst themselves.

"_Should we tell him?"_

"_She said to only tell him when the time was right!"_

"_But when WILL the time be right? That's a really vague order!"_

"'The time is right'? What are you talking about?" the prince demanded.

Surprised, the Zigli shot off even more questions to themselves.

"_How can he understand us? I thought his memory—"_

"_The question is, how can WE understand HIM? He's speaking the language that the Earthlings speak in this area—"_

"_Would you shut up already, he knows what we're saying!"_

"Shut UP! ALL of you!" the boy screamed in frustration, and his posse dutifully complied. Pointing to a single Zigli, he demanded. "You obviously know things that I don't—and I can't remember anything! Tell me—do you even know who I am?!"

The Zigli looked back and forth at its compatriots, unsure of whether or not this was information their queen allowed them to disclose. It seemed obvious that it was far from the time to reveal to him that his mother had just been killed by his father, after all, but surely there had to be _something _they could divulge to their young charge. Upon receiving no response from anyone else regarding what could and could not be revealed, it finally responded to its prince in a small voice, _"Your name is Trokim."_

"Trokim?" The boy's face scrunched up in disapproval. "That's dumb! I need to come up with a new name."

The Zigli all exchanged confused glances.

"I already get the feeling that you're not going to tell me much," the boy continued, lifting his nose in the air haughtily, "but whatever! If someone dumped us here and said that we couldn't ever know about it, then they're obviously not worth our time anyway. I can make my _own _identity. My own _legacy!" _He stood up straighter and clapped his hands together authoritatively. "And you're going to help me! Come on, let's go figure out what I need to do to be the most _awesome _person around here!"

His servants continued to stare stupidly at each other.

The boy sighed impatiently. "Come on, it can't be _that _hard." He tugged at his royal robes, flanked with his family's insignia. "For starters, I'll need better clothes than these." Turning his attentions to the side of the escape pod he had emerged from, he leaned in closer to examine the bright orange adhesive on the side. "And what's this?" He touched it with a finger, and yelped when he had trouble pulling it away. _"Man, _that's sticky! Good thing it's just on this weird pod thing, because otherwise it would make a _mess!"_

And slowly, surely, his face light up, as if with a clever, sinister idea.

The Zigli, again, weren't sure what to make of this. All they knew was that never in their wildest dreams had they thought that the industrial strength adhesive they'd used for repairs on the spaceship would ever elicit such a response… especially from their prince of all people.

Finally able to pull his finger away, the boy glanced at his loyal subjects. "What are you waiting for? Let's go… find out whatever it is we're gonna do!"

The Zigli shrugged amongst themselves one more time before gladly following their prince. After all, of course, they were made to serve him, now more than ever. They weren't slaves by any means—any one of them could have abandoned him at any time.

But that thought wasn't on any of their minds, for after all, where _else _would they go?


	3. Chapter 3

Connor blinked roughly, his eyelids somehow seeming both heavy and a bit detached from his senses. The sight that greeted him didn't offer up any immediate answers. He seemed to be suspended, almost floating, in the air, a swirl of red, blue, and green clouds the only thing above or below him. Despite practically hovering in midair, he found that he could move his arms and legs freely, although the motions felt similar to moving his eyelids—belabored and almost separate from his body.

He let out a sigh of relief when he moved his head and saw Amaya and Greg there as well. They were also in their pajamas and seemed to be suspended in the air, but able to move at least partially.

"Amaya! Greg! Are you guys alright?" Connor called out to them.

"Yeah, I—I guess so," Amaya said, unsurely flexing a hand out in front of her.

"This is really weird," Greg said, his eyes wide. "Where are we?"

_**You have been brought here because we have need of you.**_

The three children's eyes grew even wider. The voices had seemingly bubbled up inside of their brains, not actually been heard by their ears, yet all three heard them plain as day. And despite sensing multiple voices speaking, they still came across as one entity.

Amaya suddenly pointed. "Look!" Connor and Greg turned to see what she was pointing at, and their jaws would have hit the floor if there had been a floor.

Hovering in the mist before them were three shadowy figures, more outlines of animals than solid entities, yet their forms were easily identifiable. In the center there stood a blue cat, its ears perked up attentively. On one side of it stood a red owl, just as large as the cat. To the cat's other side was a green lizard, coiled up and looking at the children expectantly.

Connor's focus was instantly on the cat. "Are you the cat on my bracelet?" he spluttered out.

_**That is correct.**_

"And—" Greg and Amaya both began simultaneously, but the animals cut them off.

_**And the animals on your bracelets too, yes. We have summoned you here because there is a great threat, and we need human vessels to vanquish the threat.**_

"That sounds kind of… serious," Greg said nervously, his eyes darting over to Connor and Amaya.

Amaya, on the other hand, had a determined glimmer in her eyes. "Who are you, though?" she asked the animals. "And what is the threat?"

The animals suddenly raised up into battle-ready poses.

_**We are the animal totems.**_

The colored mist surrounding them began forming into other hazy shapes, taking on threatening, humanoid appearances.

_**Over a thousand years ago, this land was threatened by a great power. The people were unable to defend themselves on their own. So we appeared to the chosen ones as their spirit animals, and made them our vessels. Working together, we defeated the foes and vanquished them back to the dark from whence they came.**_

As the animal totems spoke, their forms moved against the menacing mist people, cutting through them despite their carefully maneuvered "attacks" against the animals. When slashed through, their forms dissipated back into the surrounding fog once more.

_**We have remained dormant since then. Any threats to your people, you have been able to handle yourselves. But there is a new threat. And we require new vessels with which to fight it.**_

"New vessels?" Amaya asked. "Is that us?"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on," Connor said quickly before the animal totems could answer her. "You're saying that there's a threat so big that not even the army or police or… or anyone can deal with it?"

"_**Big" is not the correct word. It simply means that none of your species are equipped to handle it without our help.**_

"That _is _big! A big problem, anyway!" Connor said, trying to sort this out. "So why would you come to _us _to be your… your vessels, that's what you called us? We're just kids! We're only six years old!"

"I'm not even six yet!" Greg piped up.

"You will be in a month, that's kind of splitting hairs right now," Amaya said matter-of-factly.

"Amaya!" Connor muttered, raising an eyebrow at her. "Five, six, even if we were ten, we'd still be too young! Why didn't you ask grownups?"

_**Just as a thousand years ago, we have sought out vessels who are the most appropriate to counter the threat. This time, it is the three of you.**_

"Can't be that much of a threat, then…" Connor mumbled.

"Connor!' Amaya snapped at him. "This is serious!"

_**The choice is yours whether or not to accept our offer.**_

Greg turned towards his friends as quickly as he could, flinging his arms out to his sides. "Guys, we can't do this. This is nuts!"

"We have to do this!" Amaya countered. "Don't you get what this is? It's like a superhero origin story!"

"Say _what?" _Greg asked.

Amaya sighed. "Doesn't your Master Fang have a cool origin story where he got his powers?"

"Not really, he just trained himself," Connor said, a bit stupefied that she'd bring this up.

Amaya snorted, crossing her arms. "Well, Flossy Flash has an origin story. One day when archeologist Florence Wheeler found an ancient crystal, her bravery activated its powers and granted her superpowers to fight off the forces of evil!" She clasped her hands gleefully. "She knew that there would always be evil in the world, and if she had the chance to do something about it, then she was going to take it! And we've just been told that there's a threat to our city and we're the _best ones _to counter it. We have to accept! What will happen if we do _nothing?"_

Connor sighed. This was all a bit too much to take in at once, but he had to admit that Amaya's words were making sense (even if her excited tone really wasn't given the circumstances). "She's probably right, Greg. It's our duty to do whatever we can, now that we've been told about this."

Greg still looked a bit panicked. "What can _we _do about it? Even with their help? What if we mess up? This is way too much pressure to be thrown at us!" His shoulders sagged and his eyes fell downcast apologetically. "You two can do it if you want, but I just can't. It's too much. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Greg," said Connor. "I totally understand. Amaya and I can—"

_**It must be all three of you. Teamwork and having knowledge of each other's hearts and minds prior to gaining our powers is of utmost importance.**_

"So it's all or nothing?" Amaya cried out.

_**Yes.**_

Greg looked up, surprised. "What happens if we say no?"

_**We will seek out another trio with whom to offer our powers. They will not be as well-suited as the three of you. If they also refuse, we will continue down the line.**_

"Oh man!" Amaya looked towards Greg and Connor with desperation. "We can't let that—"

"We have to, Amaya," Connor interrupted her. "We're not going to force Greg into this. If he doesn't want to, then we won't do it. Simple as—"

"I'll do it!" Greg suddenly declared, surprising both of his friends. Connor was pretty sure he even saw the cat animal totem's ears twitch upwards slightly at his words.

"Are you sure?" Connor asked Greg. "I don't want you to feel forced—"

"No, you're right. And Amaya's right. And…" Greg straightened up a bit, glancing at the animal totems. "If our friendship and teamwork is the most important ingredient, then we've already got a pretty good start on this! Besides…" He flushed a bit. "I've always kind of wanted to be a lizard."

_**Is this your decision, then?**_

Greg swallowed nervously, but held his head high. "Yes. I'm in."

"Me too," Amaya immediately followed.

Connor took one more look at his friends, seeing the conviction in their stances, before finally moving forward and looking directly at the blue cat totem. "Me too. We accept."

_**Very well.**_

There was a sudden swirl of color, and Connor felt himself get swept away again, like he had been when he had first touched his bracelet.

_**We will use our available resources to give you a base of operations, **_he heard the totems say as the colors whirled around him. _**The invaders' technology has advanced just as much as your species' has over the past thousand years, so you should find it more than acceptable. We can use their technology with our magic to keep you mostly hidden. Only those who know you are there will be able to see you. To activate us, simply press the insignia on your bracelets while wearing the clothing you are in right now. We will only able to be activated at night.**_

The swirling abruptly stopped, and Connor found himself deposited in his room again.

_**And finally… good luck.**_

And then things were silent once more.

Connor took a couple of deep breaths, looking around his room his room and trying to get his bearings. His right hand clasped around the bracelet on his left wrist, being careful to not touch the cat symbol on it just yet, simply wanting at that moment to confirm that this had all really happened.

The walkie-talkie on his nightstand crackled back to life after a few seconds.

"Uh… guys?" Greg's voice sounded completely taken aback. "Did… that just happen?"

"Only one way to find out," Amaya responded, sounding a bit shaken herself.

Connor gulped, looking down at his bracelet. "On… on the count of three again?" he finally asked them.

"Sure," Greg answered.

"Let's do it," Amaya said.

"Okay." Connor took one more breath. "One… two… THREE!"

He touched the cat symbol on his bracelet, and nothing was ever the same again.

…

An abandoned motel sat on the edge of town, already becoming a bit overgrown with vegetation. No one had ventured near the property in ages, and thus no one heard the rather noisy boy and his devoted followers trounce their way inside.

To make it a home fit for a prince, of course, the Zigli had to get creative. Fortunately, they had a working knowledge of the ins and outs of their home planet's technology, which was of course far more advanced than anything the inhabitants of Earth had yet to devise. In no time at all they had rigged the electrical wiring in the room they were currently occupying to turn on the lights and power on the old model television still perched atop the dresser.

In between rather excitedly bouncing up and down on the bed (for at heart, they could be just as youthful as their prince), the Zigli did their best to keep their focus _mostly _on the task at hand.

"_Will this place work?"_

"_It's obviously a bit run-down…"_

"_That's probably a good thing, though—that means no one will find us here."_

"_Do we WANT to be found?"_

"_I don't know… probably not?"_

"_This is all so confusing…"_

Their young charge took little notice of their conversation, too busy flipping through the TV channels.

Whereas the memory wipe and subsequent Earth-info-dump performed on his now-forgotten best friend had gone pretty much exactly as intended, the boy's brain had been rewired a bit differently. Yes, he had no memory of who he was or where he came from… but he still retained at least some recognition of his royalty. He may not have remembered that he was specifically a prince, but he _was _absolutely assured of the fact that he was just naturally a really_ awesome _specimen, and that the small helpers with him were made to serve him. With that in mind, then, the boy had concluded that he must have been placed here to be the most _awesome _person around.

…and even if that _wasn't _the reason, he'd make it be the reason anyway!

With fierce determination, he flipped through channels, trying to find something to help him find his footing and purpose.

Of course, it being one o'clock in the morning, there wasn't much on.

_Flip._

"—it cuts the first time, the fourth time, EVERY TIME! Call now for—"

_Flip._

"-those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like—"

_Flip._

"—I don't have any cash to pay you for the pizza… but I _can_ pay you _another_ way… is that alright, babe?—"

_Flip._

"This is all pathetic," the boy complained. "It's going to be easy to be awesome in comparison if _this _is all I'm up against."

One of the small Zigli, having stayed out of the frenzied chatter of its brethren, leapt up atop the mattress and sat next to the boy. The boy acknowledged its existence by raising an eyebrow, although his annoyance was still clearly directed at the TV. "There's got to be more than this junk, right?"

The Zigli shrugged its shoulders. _"You know more than me—or any of us."_

"Well, that's not helpful!" the boy complained. "I barely know _anything!"_

"_Whoa, hey—that looks pretty neat!"_

The boy turned his attention back to the TV. The commercial he had stopped on had finished, and now there was a golden title card, with a small box in the corner showing a group of figures dressed all in black kicking and flipping in the air. "We now return you to our feature presentation, Night of the Ninja," the television announced.

The schlocky, badly-dubbed B-movie started back up, and the boy and the Zigli with him were entranced. As the ninjas on the screen flipped, kicked, and karate-chopped their way through their foes, the boy's face lit up with wonder. The awe was enough to catch the attention of the rest of the Zigli, whose babbling died away when they took notice of what had captured their young charge's attention. Soon, they were gathered around him on the edge of the bed as well, watching with just as much eagerness.

"Is—is this what I am?" the boy asked them, motioning towards the screen. "I can jump and leap just like these ninjas can—so am I a ninja?"

The Zigli looked amongst themselves before shrugging amiably.

"_You must be!"_

"I knew it!" The boy leapt to his feet and punched the air excitedly. "I'm a _ninja! _And I'm gonna be the _greatest _ninja who _ever lived!" _

The Zigli all cheered with him, elated at his happiness.

Then, silence. The boy's face fell as his arms dropped from the air.

"Except I don't _look _like a ninja. Look at those ninjas on the screen! They're wearing dark clothes that cover up everything but their eyes! I need an outfit like that! Not this… _frilly _thing." He tugged at his sleeve with a bit of disgust.

The Zigli looked at each other with a bit of uncertainty. _"We don't have anything with which we can make new clothes for you…"_

"_Except there might be something in this room we could use…"_

"Well, go look!" the boy demanded. "I can't be the world's greatest ninja if I don't even _look _like one!" He sat back down on the mattress and crossed his arms impatiently.

The Zigli scattered throughout the small room and dug through every dresser drawer they could find.

"_Nothing here!"_

"_Nothing here either!"_

"_I found… ARGH IT'S MOVING! That's the most disgusting looking insect I've ever seen…"_

"_Here! There's some cloth in this small room! It's dark! It's not black, though…"_

At that, all of them scampered towards the closet to their comrade who was pulling out a few extra sets of sheets that had been stored there. Their young charge didn't leave his spot on the edge of the bed, although he did perk up at the announcement, and his countenance didn't morph to disapproval when he saw the cloths.

"That's fine! They're dark enough! And they're sparkly, which is pretty awesome, too!" The boy grinned, motioning his minions to take the sheets. "I call the blue color! You guys can have that other purple color."

Reaching into the hidden pocket in his tunic and taking out the sticky adhesive gel, he added, "And make sure you add in a hidden pocket for me to be able to carry this stuff around!"

The Zigli nodded eagerly, happy to have a project to work on. Meanwhile, the boy moved the gel back and forth between his hands, his eyes brimming with plots and ideas, and the smile on his lips grew broader.

…

On the opposite side of town, the other extra-terrestrial visitor was also happily discovering her purpose—or at least discovering something that she was good at. True, having help from moths when learning how to "fly" was a plus, although their method of flying was far different than hers. They had wings. She had a crescent hoverboard.

But oh goodness, was it a thrill to be able to zip through the air on it!

"Woo hoo! Watch this, moths!" The girl dipped down and around and did a midair somersault, the moths following her protectively. _"Whooooaaa!" _She expertly righted herself, having never lost her balance, and tossed her small handheld magnet in the air confidently. "This flying stuff's a piece of cake—and it's fun, too!"

The moths vocalized their agreement.

The girl caught the magnet without looking at it, instead taking stock of her surroundings. In her travels perched atop her hoverboard she had moved quite far from her original starting place and was now within sight of the sleepy town, illuminated by streetlights but otherwise appearing deserted.

"Hmm." The girl scooped an arm through the air and hovered up a bit higher to get a better view. While she still couldn't see any people, there were plenty of buildings in view that were most likely housing a large number, the buildings packed tightly together as if they were huddling for protection.

The girl just smirked at that thought. Buildings didn't scare her.

"Looks like everything here's just mine for the taking," she said, almost offhandedly pushing a button on her magnet. An automobile on the ground instantly got caught up in its beam, and the girl was able to lift it up into the air with ease simply by controlling the magnet.

The moths, intrigued, watched the spectacle in awe.

"If lifting up _that _heavy thing is that easy, imagine how much more I can take for myself!" the girl gloated, releasing the car from the beam and letting it drop back down to the street with a thud. "I don't need a car, of course, since I have this hover board, but… it _is _shiny…" The girl's eyes glimmered.

The moths all hummed apprehensively. _There's lots of other shiny things in town, trust us. And they're not nearly as big and bulky as a car._

"I like the sound of that," said the girl with a smirk. "If I can decorate my base with all the shiny things, and with your help too, I'll be able to forget how alone I am."

_Oh, dear child, _cooed the moths soothingly. _You will never be alone as long as we are here._

"Thanks," said the girl with a vulnerable smile. The moths flittered around her, and the girl's expression hardened a bit back to her confident gloating stance as she lightly waved them away. "That does help, but being around shiny, beautiful things helps a lot, too."

Scanning the city, her eyes fell upon the town square, where a tall, bronze statue of a man in old-fashioned clothing glimmered in the starlight.

"And that right there is the perfect start…"


	4. Chapter 4

Connor liked to move fast, to be sure, but his speed right now was a total blur. It was so fast, in fact, that by the time he was fully cognizant of the fact that he was being zipped around again, he had already arrived at his destination.

And it wasn't anything that he was expecting.

The colored mist from earlier was gone. In fact, this time everything was in sharp, chrome-plated focus. A sleek floor was below his covered feet, with narrow, lighted paths zig-zagging and crossing through the circular room. Just as Connor was getting his bearings, a large, translucent bubble popped up and around him, and a digitized video appeared on the curved screen. Connor, surprised, jumped back, and he heard the surprised gasps of his friends as they jumped back, too.

As interested as he was with the strange technology in the room, Connor's biggest concern at the moment was that Amaya and Greg were both alright. He turned around to face them. "Are you—whoa!"

"Whoa!" Amaya and Greg gasped out almost in unison with Connor. Then their eyes flickered to each other.

And then, after a second, the three children looked down at their own bodies to better examine their new costumes.

Connor hadn't been expecting to see Amaya and Greg in those full-body costumes that brought to mind the red owl totem and green lizard totem, but after seeing them in that state, he anxiously wanted to see how he looked like as the blue cat totem, and his cursory glance at his body didn't disappoint. He even saw a striped blue tail lying between his similarly marked legs, and much to his surprise he found that he could move the tail as if it were a standard limb he'd always possessed as he flicked the tip from side to side. A stripped pattern on the tail matched the one on his legs. Extending his arms up towards the top of his head, he saw the same pattern on them, too. He traced the fabric of his costume up and along the side of his head, following it all the way to two triangular ear-shaped protrusions at the top. Surprised, his eyes flickered up, and upon doing so caught his and his friends' reflections in the monitor, getting a better view of his new cat look. Amaya and Greg's eyes fell upon the monitor as well, after also examining their new found duds.

"Wow," breathed Amaya, extending an arm to her side. The wing-like cape attached to her back flared out with it. "I… I have _wings!"_

"Cool chameleons!" Greg said, running a hand up and down his scaly arms, his stiff tail flicking back and forth as well. "I'm a lizard! I wonder if I have lizard powers?"

"Powers?" Connor repeated, confused.

Amaya's eyes brightened. "Yes! Powers! We're superheroes now, so we must have superpowers! And since I have wings, I must be able to fly!" Now with both of her arms extended, she hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, and then shouted, "Um… wing power, activate!" and pushed herself into the air.

And stayed there.

"Whoa!" Connor and Greg both gasped.

"OH MY GOSH!" The shock of her success caused Amaya to lose her midair balance and fall back down to the ground. Her time in the air hadn't been long, but it had certainly been long enough to confirm a flight power. She pressed her hands to the side of her face as a wide, shaky smile spread across it. "I can _fly!"_

"I wonder what I can do?" Greg asked, biting his lower lip as he thought. "Depending on what kind of lizard I am, I could do any number of things…" He brightened with an idea. "If I'm a chameleon, maybe I can camouflage!"

And then he disappeared.

"Whoa!" Amaya shouted. "You went invisible! You have invisibility powers! You could go anywhere and we wouldn't even know!"

"I know where he is," Connor counted. "I can hear him breathing."

"You can?" Amaya said, surprised.

"That makes sense, though," Greg's voice said, coming from Connor's right side. "Cats have good hearing, right?"

"Really?" Connor's shoulders sagged. "You get to go invisible, Amaya gets to fly, and I can just hear better?!"

"Hold on," Amaya said, stepping up next to Connor and holding a hand out. "We might have more than one power each. Because I think my eyes are better than usual." She touched her face near her eyes. "My glasses are gone, but I can see just fine!"

"I guess most birds do have really good eyesight," Connor conceded, "so that makes sense." He hummed to himself thoughtfully, mentally running through all of a cat's abilities and what other ones he might have been given. "Cats can jump pretty high, right? Maybe I can, too!" He blinked and turned to Amaya, abashed. "Am I supposed to shout something out like you did?"

Amaya shrugged. "I don't know. Probably. Superheroes in comic books and TV shows usually shout out their attacks."

Connor sighed. The words "this isn't a comic book" almost shot out of him, but he stopped himself with the reminder that, despite this not being a comic book, they really didn't have any other basis for comparison. "Alright. Um… super cat _jump!" _He squatted down and then propelled himself into the air.

His hunch was correct. His leap was easily three to four times his own height. He landed on the branch of an artificial tree that was to the side of the room, as if it had been there just waiting for Connor to try it out.

Amaya, still on the ground, giggled. "Yeah, I'd say you've got a few more powers other than just cat ears!"

"I do, too!" Greg's voice rang out, to Connor's surprise right next to him on the tree. His camouflage faded away to reveal that he was on the side of the tree, clinging to it easily despite being nearly vertical to the floor. "I have a lizard grip!"

Not to be undone, Amaya spread her arms and flew up to be at their level as well. "I can barely believe how _awesome _this is, you guys! We're actually—"

"Gasping geckos is that a _car?!"_

Greg's interjection drew the attention of all three newfound superheroes to the side enclave where there did indeed sit a sleek, blue sports car adorned with dark blue stripes. Connor very nearly squealed with delight.

"I have a _CAR?!"_

True to his cat powers, he leapt off the artificial branch and landed lightly and nimbly on his feet, but for now at least he had forgotten all about determining what other cat-like powers he possessed. In an instant he had zipped to the vehicle, his fists clenched in front of him and hopping from foot to foot like a kid on Christmas morning. "It's a car! It's a car! I HAVE A CAR, YOU GUYS!"

"That's not fair," Greg said glumly. "Why does _he _get a car and we don't?"

"Hang on!" Amaya interjected, pointing to the opposite wall. There was no car or any other vehicle there, but instead three colored tubes, matching the kids' colors, that seemed to lead both to an upper and lower level. "Maybe we have to go through those to find ours!"

Greg scampered down off the tree and Amaya soared across the room, but Connor hardly noticed, still eagerly inspecting his new set of wheels. The inner controls seemed to be just the right size for a child, and behind the centrally positioned driver's seat were two other seats, one marked with red stripes and the other with green. Connor's cat ears perked up; even if his friends didn't have vehicles of their own, at least they seemed to have designated spots in his. "Hey guys!" he started to call out, but their own excited jabbering reached his super cat hearing in no time. Despite the fact that they were on different levels (Amaya above him and Greg below him) and that they weren't even talking to him (nor each other), Connor still heard them perfectly.

"Omigosh are those _wings?! _Is this a _plane?!"_

"Gasping geckos! I have a vehicle too!"

"I can fly on my own AND with my very own glider!"

"What's up with this tread? Can this go both on land AND underwater? COOL CHAMELEONS!"

"Hey, guys?" Connor called out to them, moving off of his car and back towards the center of the room.

"This is the most amazing thing EVER!"

"I can't believe how AWESOME this is!"

"Guys?" Connor called out louder, stepping back into the center of the room. The translucent bubble from before popped up and encircled him again, but this time a video feed flickered into view.

"Connor! Greg!" Amaya had shot back down the elevator tube and flittered excitedly back into the center of their headquarters. "You won't believe what's up there! It's like a room just for me! And there's a red vehicle up there too that looks like it can fly!"

"Shh," Connor hushed her, motioning towards the video feed. "There's something going on."

Amaya's nose scrunched up in confusion. "We're getting security camera footage? Where are the cameras even located, anyway?"

Connor shrugged. "I don't know. It kind of looks like it's in the town square."

Amaya gestured towards a swarm of something visible in the video feed. "Are those… moths?"

"I don't know. Whatever they are, though, they're all moving together."

Greg suddenly materialized besides them, causing both of his friends to jump a bit in alarm. "They're almost moving like synchronized swimmers or something."

"Whatever they're doing, it's really weird," Connor agreed. "It's almost like they're… looking for something."

Amaya's eyes grew wide. "Do you guys think that maybe this is the threat those animal totems were telling us about?"

Connor and Greg exchanged a confused glance. "The threat is _moths?" _Greg asked incredulously.

"I mean, that _does _explain why they got kids to deal with it…" Connor mused.

Greg still didn't look convinced. "If that's all it is, why didn't they get an exterminator?"

Amaya looked confident and focused, however. "We should investigate."

Connor shrugged. "Yeah, this is really the only thing we have to go on right now…" He brightened with a sudden thought. "We can take my car!"

"Or we could take my—" Amaya began, but Connor had already zipped to his car and was perched in the driver's seat eagerly. "—glider."

"Jeez, Connor, do you think you have super speed too?" Greg asked as he scampered over to the car, Amaya flying low behind him.

"It doesn't matter what I have," Connor said, still grinning, as Greg sat down in the green-marked seat behind him and buckled in, "as long as I get to my car first!"

Amaya fluttered down in the remaining seat, lightly rolling her eyes. "Do you even know how to drive?"

Connor chuckled nervously, turning his attentions towards the controls. "Uh, well, I am pretty good at Mario Kart…"

"That doesn't count," Amaya muttered.

Annoyed, Connor rolled his eyes at her while still scanning the controls. "Oh, and all your comic book knowledge _does _count for how we're supposed to do this whole superhero thing?"

"At least it's someth—WHOA!"

Amaya's words of defense were cut off abruptly the moment Connor found the button that powered his car. The engine roared to life as the car rocked back in anticipation, and Connor grasped the steering wheel out of instinct, his feet scrambling to find any pedals or breaks on the floor. His car, however, wasn't powered by foot like a normal car would be. The button he'd pressed on the dashboard was all the acceleration the car needed and, almost as though it were acting on its own power, it tore out of its pod, the wall of the totem opening accommodatingly for it.

"AAAAAAAUGH!" screamed the kids.

THUMP! The car landed on the path below and zoomed out of the park and into the main streets of the town.

"I guess we're going to the town square!" Connor shouted, a death grip still on the wheel.

"GASPING GECKOS SLOW DOWN!" Greg screamed.

Connor flailed his foot about for another half a second before finding a pedal that he lightly tapped, and the car's speed slowed.

"About time you slowed us down!" Amaya cried out.

"Oh, like you would have done any better!" Connor protested.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Greg pleaded. "I know it's rough but we're all still trying to figure this out!"

"Yeah… like what are we going to do when we get to those moths?" Connor asked.

There was silence for a moment, the only sound being the hum of the car.

"Well, first thing's first," Amaya finally said, in a brisk tone of voice. "We need to come up with superhero names before we get there."

"Superhero names?" Greg repeated.

"Uh… why?" Connor asked.

Amaya sighed. "Don't you guys know anything? Now that we're superheroes we have to keep our everyday identities a secret. All superheroes have a name that's related to their powers." She grinned confidently. "I've decided I'm going to be Owlette. My animal totem's an owl, and I'm a girl. So, Owlette!"

"Is that really necessary right now?" Connor began to ask, turning a corner a bit too closely.

"Ooh, can I be Gecko?" Greg asked eagerly. "I know I'm more of a chameleon than a gecko since I can do camouflage, but Gecko's a cooler sounding name than Chameleon."

"Your name can't just be an animal name!" Amaya—Owlette—countered.

"But I'd spell it with two k's instead of a c and a k—that's cool, right?"

"Can we talk about this later?" Connor asked, rounding another corner and quickly heading towards the town square. "We're nearly—" His foot slammed on the brake.

WHOOOM!

The three children lurched forwards as far as their seatbelts allowed them to go before snapping them back into their seats as the car lurched to a stop.

"…there," Connor finished, woozily bringing a hand to his forehead, reeling from the whiplash.

Owlette's eyes rattled back and forth a few times before regaining her composure. "You need to come up with a superhero name before going out there!"

Connor sighed in frustration. "I don't know… Catboy, okay? Now let's go!"

"I like it!" Gekko said, unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of the car.

Owlette, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes at him again as she fluttered out and above the vehicle. "Not the most original name I've ever heard… You guys are pretty terrible at this."

"Would you just forget about the names?" Catboy said to her, also exiting the car. "It doesn't matter what we're called! What matters is that we figure out what's going on and do something about it!"

"Shh," said Gekko, pointing past them. "The moths are over there."

"Good eyes, Gekko. Let's hide behind this bush and watch." Catboy nimbly jumped behind a bush near the front of the square, and Owlette and Gekko quickly followed him.

The hoard of moths didn't seem to be aware of the young heroes' presence or that they were being watched. With velvety precision, they hovered across the square like an ocean wave, rolling gently towards the bronzed statue of the town's founder in the center. This seemed to be their destination, for when they reached it, they stopped and encircled it inquisitively.

"Why would moths be interested in a statue?" Gekko whispered to Owlette and Catboy.

"Maybe they want to use it as a hive or something," Catboy offered uncertainly.

Owlette bit her lip in confusion. "There's no way that many moths can all fit inside that statue."

"Aha! _Excellent, _my faithful moths!"

The young girl's voice rang out like a bell over the moths' chirping, and the three superheroes quickly quieted down and peered towards the source. Flying up into view behind the moths, the girl who had spoken wasn't like any child they'd ever seen before. She wore a dark colored uniform complete with black mask over her eyes, and her hair was a surprising silvery-white color that seemed to almost sparkle in the moonlight. But what was even more surprising than her hair was her method of travel: she stood perched atop a crescent-shaped hoverboard, one that "hovered" so high that she was able to fly in circles far above the statue's head.

"Guys… I'm starting to think that the moths aren't the threat," Catboy whispered.

"Definitely not," Owlette agreed.

"The threat's a kid, like us?" Gekko cocked his head, lost in thought. "NOW I get why the totems chose us…"

"But what's she wanting to do with that statue?" Owlette asked. "And what are all those moths supposed to do?"

The girl, meanwhile, was cackling with delight as she investigated the statue. "It looks even better in person! I can't wait to see how beautiful it looks in my hideout." She extended one arm above her, a curved device in her hand hoisted triumphantly. "And with the full power of the unobstructed moon beams, my magnet will be strong enough to move it!"

"Gasping geckos!" Gekko whispered. "She's going to steal it!"

"What should we do?" Owlette whispered to Catboy.

"Oh, _now _you think I know what I'm doing?" Catboy smiled to Owlette to let her know he was joking, however, and Owlette flashed a quick grin back at him. "Um… I'd say we'd better confront her!"

"Wait!" hissed Owlette. "Before you—"

But Catboy didn't wait. "Super cat jump!" he yelled confidently, announcing his presence to the girl and her moths a split second before leaping out from behind the bush with a rustle of leaves.

"Huh?" the girl said, her attentions pulled away from her prize.

"You can't steal that statue!" Catboy declared, pointing an authoritative finger at her. "It belongs to _everyone _in town. You can't just take it and hide it away so that only you can see it!"

"Who says I can't?" the girl countered, hovering lower to the ground. She hopped off her hoverboard and marched up to Catboy, glaring him right in the eyes. "Who do you think you are, anyway?"

Catboy held his own, pleased that he appeared to be taller than her when both had their feet on the ground. "I'm Catboy." He motioned towards his friends, who had followed his lead and abandoned their hiding place and were now poised behind him expectantly and defensively. "This is Owlette and Gekko. We're new superheroes in town, and we're going to do whatever it takes to stop you!"

"Superheroes, huh?" The girl reached up and flicked one of Catboy's ears dismissively. "What are you, the Pajama Brigade?"

"That's why I was telling you to wait," Owlette murmured to Catboy. "We need a team name, too."

"Would you forget about the names already?" Catboy sighed. Annoyed, he pushed the girl's arm away from his face. "What's _your _name, anyway?"

The girl's smile fell into uncertainty. "Um…"

"Maybe we can just try this tomorrow, after we've all had a chance to figure out what we should call each other?" Gekko casually grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

The girl wasn't amused, however. In fact, she almost looked angry as she stepped back from Catboy and hopped onto her hoverboard once more. "You think it's funny that I don't remember my name or anything about myself? You think it's funny that you all get to have this statue and this park and this town while I have _nothing? _Hey, it's nice that you guys get to just spend all day worrying about names and that's the worst thing you have to deal with, but I have _nothing. _And you have _everything." _She glared at the three of them. "And if I want something, then I'm going to take it. That's just how it is!" Furious, she aimed her small magnet at the statue and pressed a button. A pink beam shot out of it and engulfed the statue completely.

"No! Stop it!" Owlette pleaded with her. "I know you don't have anything and I'm sorry, but that statue _isn't yours!"_

"It is now!" the girl shot back, raising her arm in the air. The statue, caught in the beam, did too, as easily as if she were lifting a feather.

"No!" Owlette repeated, instinctively pushing herself in the air, flapping her arms forward for balance. A gust of wind billowed out from the motion, rocketing to the girl with such force that one foot slipped off of her hoverboard, and her moon magnet beam broke as she struggled to regain her balance, the statue plummeting back towards the ground.

"_HEY!" _she shrieked indignantly.

Surprised, Owlette examined her hands. "Do I have another superpower? An owl wing wind superpower?"

"Ugh!" the girl exclaimed in anger. "I don't care what powers you have, you're _not _going to stop me! Get them, moths!"

The moths chirped confused-sounding noises.

"I don't know how! Just _get them _while I get away!" The girl caught up the statue in her magnet beam once more.

"Oh no you don't!" Catboy began, but he didn't get any further. The moths had figured out how to carry out their leader's command. All three children were surrounded by dozens of quick, feathery, fluttering insects, blocking their field of vision and even their range of motion.

"H-hey!" Catboy gasped as their wings, antennae, and spindly legs brushed against his body, a thousand times a second.

"Th-that tickles!" Gekko cried out.

"St-st-stop!" Owlette begged, desperately waving her arms out in front of her to shoo the moths away. Actually, all three of the superheroes were, but thanks to her newly found wing power, she was the most successful in clearing them out. The boys were still trying to push away their tormentors, mostly unsuccessfully.

"She's getting away with the statue!" Owlette cried out. "Man, that hoverboard of hers is fast!"

"We need—AUGH!—we need to get to the cat car!" Catboy cried, still frantically waving his arms back and forth to stop the moth tickle attack. The moths, seemingly confident that they had given their leader an ample head start, finally moved away from Catboy and Gekko and took off after the girl, their chirps quickly fading into the night as they disappeared from view.

Gekko wiped at his eyes now that he could finally focus on something other than the moths. "Who'd've thought that _moths _would be so tough to handle?"

"That explains why an exterminator can't take care of this problem," Owlette remarked with a dry smirk.

"Come on!" Catboy called, zipping over to the car and leaping back in the driver's seat. "We've got to catch up to them and stop that moon beam girl!"

"Moon Beam Girl?" Gekko repeated, scampering over to his spot in the car, Owlette not far behind. "Is that _really _what we're going to call her?"

Catboy frowned. "If you don't like that, _you _come up with a name for her."

Upon hearing everyone's seatbelts buckle, he pressed the power button and the car roared after their newfound villain.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note:

Yes, this is indeed chapter five of five. However, don't forget about the epilogue—I'm posting it at the same time as this chapter, so once you've reached the end of this one remember to keep reading for the last bit. :)

…

The "moon beam girl" zipped through the skies, the statue safely in her magnet beam and kept hovering a consistent distance ahead of her, and cackled with glee.

Alright, so the three do-gooder kids who had shown up out of nowhere (and had been dressed even more outrageously than herself) had ticked her off at first. All she wanted was to take something that would maybe make her happy for a little bit; why did those annoying kids want to try to stop her? What jerks!

But the girl _had _outrun them. Despite their intentions, they had failed to stop her.

And, truth be told, the girl was just glad to see that she didn't seem to be the _only _freak around.

She heard the telltale chirping of her moths approaching behind her, and she slowed her pace down ever so slightly to allow them to catch up with her. "Are they coming?"

_If they are, dear girl, they will be a little ways behind. They are quite disoriented._

"Perfect! Good job, moths." Now that her moths were flanking her once more, the girl picked up her pace again, not wanting to close whatever gap existed between her and the meddling kids. "Let's get this back to the base and figure out what to do to stop them if they catch up to us!"

She flew, however, for only a few more seconds before stopping in surprise. "Whoa… what is _that?"_

Unbeknownst to the girl, she had discovered the flaw inherent in the animal totems' attempt to conceal the headquarters they had created. Since the large, tall totem was fashioned from the wreckage of the Ahjomite ship, Ahjomites were able to see it.

The girl had no memory of her home planet, and had no clue what this tall, colorful totem pole was or why it was sitting in the middle of the large park, but she did know that it was a very impressive site.

"…hey, moths? Change of plans." The girl smiled self-assuredly. "This is going to be our new base."

…

Unfortunately for the girl, she was not the only one whose sights were set on the totem HQ at that very moment.

"That's right! Pave the way, my little ninjas! I am a superstar and the world is my catwalk!"

The little ninja Zigli all shrugged nonchalantly, flipping and clearing a path before their charge, their expressive eyes now the only part of their bodies visible through their full-body purple uniforms.

The proud, smug boy behind them was dressed similarly, although his costume was a dark teal color that matched his eyes. Said eyes, however, were mostly closed in arrogant self-assurance as he strolled down the quiet streets, reveling in his own superiority.

…although, from the sound of things (or lack thereof), it seemed as though the only people taking notice of his awesomeness were his own little ninjas.

The boy's eyes snapped open in annoyance. "Where the heck _is _everyone, anyway?"

The little ninjas all shrugged in response. _"We don't know."_

"And what the heck is _that?!" _the boy cried out, pointing at the large totem before him.

His posse stopped at the sight as well, although their attentions seemed to be focused towards a small hovering figure and a large sculpture suspended in midair next to it.

"_Is that…"_

"_Could it be…"_

"_It is! SOROLY!" _And the little ninjas whooped and hollered and raced towards the figure.

"Hey!" screamed the boy indignantly. "What the heck is a 'soroly'?"

But the little ninjas didn't hear their ninja leader, instead clamoring towards the hovering girl, the winged insects surrounding her flaring out in surprise. _"Soroly! Soroly!"_

"What the—" The girl recoiled back, nearly falling off her lunar board. "What are _you _weirdos supposed to be?"

All of the small ninjas' faces fell in unison.

"_She doesn't remember us…"_

"Are you another team of superheroes trying to spoil my fun?" She glared at the little ninjas, the fist around her magnet gripping tighter to the point of white knuckling. "Why won't you people just _leave me alone?!"_

"HEY! NINJALINOS!"

The small ninjas instantly reacted to the new nickname their leader had created and turned to him, his eyes showing annoyance and his hand motioning towards the large totem. "How did you miss this _awesome _place for my headquarters? Way better than that dumpy room we were in before!"

"_WHAT?!"_

The girl on the hoverboard furiously zipped down closer to ground level to better glare at the boy, only barely keeping her bronzed statue caught up in her magnet beam. "I saw it first and this is going to be _my _base, not yours!"

"Hmmph!" the boy snorted dismissively. "You don't need anything more than a _beehive _for you and your little flies! But _me—_I'm a ninja with a ninja army, and I deserve a base as grand and epic as _me!"_

"_NO! I saw it first and I WANT IT!"_

"_No, it's MINE!"_

Neither one of the unknowingly reunited children heard the heartbroken sighs of realization from the ninjalinos. _"They don't remember each other at all…"_

The girl, face red with rage, swung the arm that held the moon beam, causing the statue to hurl through the air and fall out the beam. _"Get him, moths!"_ she shrieked.

And at that moment, the three young superheroes had caught up with their moon beam girl.

"WHOA!" they cried in unison, jumping out of the car, their eyes too drawn to the new blue-cad individual and his miniature army to notice that the statue had been flung in their direction.

"There's another one?!" Gekko cried.

"And he's fighting with the luna girl over _our_ base!" Catboy added urgently.

"Luna Girl?" Gekko said thoughtfully. "I like that better than the first one you came up with—"

"Guys! _LOOK OUT!" _Owlette, the only one who had been paying attention to something other than the newcomer, frantically pointed to the statue falling straight towards them.

"By my cat's whiskers!" Catboy yelped, zipping out of the way in an instant. Owlette also flew away from its path.

Gekko, however, had no powers of flight or speed to protect him. Desperately and instinctively, he held out his arms and winced behind them, bracing for impact.

The statue impacted with his arms—and only his arms. Instead of being crushed by the heavy object, Gekko had held his own against it—indeed, he was actually hoisting it aloft with only his two hands.

He opened his eyes, and his mouth hung open from the sight.

"Fluttering feathers, Gekko!" Owlette exclaimed. "You have super strength!"

Gekko grinned. "Cool chameleons!"

Luna Girl, who had spent the whole time arguing with the ninja-clad newcomer, suddenly spun around, realizing that she was missing her prize. "Hey! My statue!"

The ninja boy scoffed at her. "What a pathetic looking hunk of junk! You keep that and I'll keep this totem pole for myself!"

"Hey!" Catboy shouted, gaining the new boy's attention. "That totem is _our_ headquarters. Neither one of you is keeping it! Who are you, anyway?"

The boy laughed haughtily, his hands on his hips. The small little ninjas following him all struck theatrical poses as well. "I'm the best, that's who I am! Say hello to the night of the ninja!"

"Night Ninja?" Catboy repeated, confused.

"That's a weird name," Owlette said.

"You can't blame me for that this time!" Catboy said.

"I don't care who you are or what your name is!" Luna Girl declared, swooping back in the Night Ninja's face. "You're not taking my beautiful headquarters!"

"OUR headquarters!" Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko all protested in unison.

"No, _mine!"_ Night Ninja dramatically pointed a finger towards both Luna Girl and the three young superheroes. _"Get them,_ ninjalinos!"

The ninjalinos, however, were standing behind Night Ninja, their masked faces still clearly showing their disappointment at their boss's failure to recognize his former friend, and their reluctance to fight her.

"Hello?" Night Ninja demanded angrily, glaring at his ninjalinos. "Did you not hear your amazing leader command you into battle?!"

Suddenly, at that moment Owlette launched herself in the air, and with a shout of "Owl wing wind!" blew over the ninjalinos. They shrieked in surprise, and Night Ninja stumbled and blinked, rather taken aback himself.

"You take care of Night Ninja!" Owlette cried to her teammates, rising higher into the swarm of moths. "I'll take care of Luna Girl and her moths!"

"You stay away from my moths, bird brain!" Luna Girl shrieked at her, swooping in after her on her hover board. "Moths, do another tickle attack!"

Owlette was prepared for this, however. As Luna Girl's moths zoomed at her to do their master's bidding, Owlette flew directly in front of Luna Girl, flying circles around her as the moths tried to hit her. While some did hit their intended target, causing Owlette's path to stagger a bit, others mistakenly attacked their leader.

"Ahhaha—_moths!"_ Luna Girl cried out, fluctuating between laughter and outrage. "Get _her_, not—hahahahahah!—_me!"_

Owlette gritted her teeth through the tickling sensation of dozens of tiny moth legs and wings brushing against her body, using her wings to brush them aside as well as she could as she cut her way through the air and even closer to Luna Girl. She could already tell where Luna Girl's main source of power was located—that small, crescent shaped magnet. If she could get it away from her, Luna Girl wouldn't be able to steal or cause harm like she currently could.

Luna Girl flung an arm out defensively when she saw Owlette awkwardly flying towards her through the moths, knocking a wing out of whack. "Don't you dare! Stay away from me!"

The motion caused Owlette to lose her midair balance. _"Whoa!"_ she shrieked, fumbling awkwardly through the air, obviously not having enough practice yet to be able to better right herself. In desperation, she grabbed on to the nearest thing in her line of vision—Luna Girl's arm. This motion, of course, caused Luna Girl's balance to be similarly thrown, and she struggled to stay upright on her luna board.

"Hey!" she shrieked, flailing her arms wildly to keep upright. She violently swung the arm that Owlette was grasping back and forth, and that was all the motion it took to cause her luna magnet to fly out of her hand.

"_NO!"_ Luna Girl screamed as her luna magnet disappeared from view. "What have you done?! _Where did my magnet go?!"_

Owlette was similarly flung off Luna Girl's perch, but she managed to catch her balance midair and right herself before falling. "You could have hurt _me!_ Stop worrying about your stupid magnet! That can be fixed!"

Luna Girl glared at Owlette as her moths hovered around her protectively. "It _will_ be fixed, and then I'll be back to take everything I want for myself!"

"And we'll be here to stop you!" Owlette countered.

"I'm not scared of some stupid PJ masks!" Luna Girl snapped. "Come on, moths! Let's find my luna magnet!" She swooped off, throwing one last scowl in Owlette's direction before flying out of sight.

Owlette thoughtfully hummed to herself. "PJ Masks… that doesn't sound too bad, actually."

…

Meanwhile, Catboy and Gekko were getting more than they bargained for with Night Ninja and his ninjalinos.

"Hand over your silly headquarters!" he was saying to them, his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out in the most over-the-top self-assured manner the other two boys had ever seen. "A structure that grand has to go to the grandest person out there… and _obviously_, that's me!"

"It doesn't work that way!" Gekko protested. "You don't just get to walk up to something and decide it's yours if it already belongs to somebody else! And it belongs to us!"

"Ah, so you want to do it the hard way," Night Ninja scoffed. "You could have saved yourselves a lot of trouble by just doing what I asked, but now I'll have to take it by _force!"_

"How?" Catboy laughed, incredulously. "We have superpowers. You just have this little group of minions that don't even come up to your shoulder! You can't take _anything_ from us!"

"Uh, Catboy?" Gekko said nervously. "I don't think you sh0ould have said that…"

For Night Ninja just narrowed his eyes at them, and while it was impossible to tell his true expression with most of his face being masked, his haughty demeanor wasn't knocked back in the slightest. "That's where you're _wrong_, pussycat," he sneered, strolling up right into an increasingly taken aback Catboy's personal space. "I have more than just my faithful helpers to get things done! Prepare to meet… _MY STICKY SPLATS!"_

Faster than the eye could follow, Night Ninja flung two brightly colored balls at Catboy. Upon making contact with his wrists, they expanded rapidly, pinning Catboy to the wall of his headquarters. He struggled to break free but found that the "sticky" component of their name was not without merit.

"Argh! I'm stuck!" he cried.

The ninjalinos all laughed at the sight of the blue-clad boy struggling vainly against the sticky substance. Night Ninja just scoffed in self-assurance. "One down, one to go! And once you're both stuck to your precious headquarters, there'll be nothing you can do but watch helplessly as I take over!"

"I don't think so," Gekko responded. _"Super gecko camouflage!"_

And just like that, he disappeared.

"Hey! No fair!" Night Ninja yelped, darting about and shaking his head back and forth drastically. _"Get back here!"_

"Over here!" Gekko's voice rang out playfully, seemingly right behind Night Ninja. Night Ninja spun around and flung off two sticky splats… that hit the two ninjalinos behind him. They were helplessly pinned to the ground by balls of sticky splat almost as big as they were.

"Oops! Sorry! I'm actually over here!" Gekko's voice proclaimed from a different direction.

Again, Night Ninja whirled around and flung sticky splats in the direction that he'd heard Gekko's voice, and again, all he hit were his own ninjalinos. Catboy, although still stuck to the wall, was the one laughing now as, again and again, Gekko tricked Night Ninja into sticky splatting his own minions.

"_Hold still!" _Night Ninja cried out desperately.

"What's the matter?" Gekko teased. "Am I too sneaky for the night of the ninja?"

"Aha! You're over _there!" _Night Ninja made another flinging motion with his arm…

…but nothing. "Oh no!" he cried out in horror. "I'm all out of sticky splats!"

About half of his ninjalinos were stuck to the ground, and the other half were trying bravely (but mostly unsuccessfully) to remove their fallen comrades. Gekko reappeared next to Catboy, and with a quick "Super gecko muscles!" he was easily able to pry his teammate loose.

"Thanks, Gekko," said Catboy.

Gekko grinned at him. "No problem, Catboy!"

Night Ninja snorted dismissively, offering a hand to the nearest group of ninjalinos. "Eh, I don't want your wimpy little headquarters anyway. My ninja base will be far grander than anything you could ever imagine! And I'll make an endless supply of sticky splats there! _No one _will be able to ignore me!"

"But in the meantime," Owlette interrupted, flapping back down to the ground and giving Night Ninja a severe glare, "just go away and don't make any more trouble! Because if you do, we'll stop you. We're the PJ Masks!"

Catboy and Gekko glanced at each other for a second before shrugging with acceptance of the team name.

"That's right," Catboy said, stepping up to stand at Owlette's side. "We'll be protecting the night from now on."

It was hard to tell with his mask covering so much of his face, but Night Ninja looked a little offended by that. "But _I'm_ the Night Ninja! The night is _mine!" _He continued to tug in a vain attempt to pry a ninjalino loose from his sticky splat.

"The night belongs to _everyone,"_ Gekko countered, taking his place next to his teammates.

Night Ninja finally freed the ninjalino, the others that had been trapped being newly freed by their comrades as well. "We'll just see about that! …Once I make another batch of sticky splats. COME, NINJALINOS!" He leapt up in the air and leapfrogged himself out of sight in the most bombastic way, his ninjalinos following him with loud whoops and hollers.

Once they were fully gone, Owlette grinned at Catboy and Gekko. "Looks like you two handled Night Ninja alright."

"We got lucky," Catboy admitted. "He ran out of sticky splats."

"Yeah," said Gekko. "I'm not as fast as you, Catboy. I wouldn't have been able to dodge many more of those, even when he couldn't see me."

"We'll know what to expect for the next time," Catboy said. "He didn't seem super dangerous, anyway. It seemed more like he just wanted to be the best instead of wanting to hurt anyone."

"Yeah, and Luna Girl just wanted to have something for herself," said Gekko. "Although that hover board and magnet she has could be trouble…"

"Hopefully not for awhile," Owlette said. "She lost hold of her magnet and it went flying off. It might have even gotten broken."

"But once she gets it back…" Catboy began, biting his lower lip in worry.

"Yeah." Owlette nodded solemnly. "We'll have to be careful. With both of them. And hope that they're the only two villains we ever encounter."

"What makes you say that?" Gekko asked.

Owlette sighed impatiently. "Really, you guys need to read more comic books. The villains are bound to team up and work together to defeat us at some point. Right now we outnumber them, but if there's another villain, it would be an even match, and just one more villain after that and _they'd_ outnumber _us."_

"Maybe this won't be like a comic book," Gekko offered uneasily.

Catboy looked less concerned than either of his two teammates, simply shrugging lightly. "I don't think Night Ninja and Luna Girl will be teaming up any time soon. They didn't seem to like each other very much."

"We still need to be careful, though," said Owlette. "If they ever decide that they dislike us more than each other…"

"We'll worry about that when and if it happens," Catboy assured her. "Right now, let's just work on getting this statue back to town square."

Owlette bit her lip. "How will we do that, though? We don't have a magnet beam like Luna Girl did to move it."

"No," piped up Gekko, "but we have me!" He made his way to the statue, proclaimed _"Super gecko muscles!"_ and easily hoisted it into the air.

Catboy and Owlette exchanged a glance before looking back to Gekko and smiling.

"Let's do it," said Catboy.

…

The statue was soon returned to its proper place, and the three young children all stood at its base to reflect on their night.

"Good job, guys," Catboy said.

"Thanks," said Owlette with a smile.

"Now what?" Gekko asked. "Should we go home now?"

Catboy shrugged. "I guess so. Unless we see anything else out of the ordinary. But I think we've dealt with the problem for tonight."

"What if our parents ask us where we were?" Gekko asked. "What should we tell them?"

Catboy hesitated, not having an answer. With a shrug, he looked at Owlette expectantly.

"What are you looking at me for?" she asked him.

Catboy shrugged again. "You're the superhero expert."

Owlette giggled lightly. "I have a feeling that pretty soon, we're _all_ gonna be superhero experts." Her mood turned a bit more somber. "We probably shouldn't tell our parents about being superheroes. Or anyone else. It's never a good idea to let people know your secret identity. People close to you could get hurt by the villains."

"I guess that's why they call it a _secret_ identity," Catboy mused.

Gekko nodded in agreement, although he still looked a little overwhelmed. "This superhero stuff is going to be tough."

"Yeah, it will be," Owlette agreed. But then she smiled and put a hand on Gekko's shoulder. "But we're off to a good start. We did okay."

"That's right." Catboy put a hand on Gekko's other shoulder. "We did okay, because in the night, we saved the day!" He blinked. "Hey, that rhymed!"

"Shouting 'hooray' would rhyme too," Gekko said with a smirk.

"We can say that next time," Catboy said.

The three friends giggled under the moonlight shining on their safe, protected city.

…

Night Ninja sat on the edge of the hotel room bed, sulking to himself. Losing out on that headquarters building that those—what did they call themselves?—PJ Masks wanted to hog all to themselves was a bit of a downer, to be sure. However, the crux of his annoyance wasn't focused on missing out at being able to call the HQ his own. Those PJ Masks could have claimed a home base as pathetic and unwanted as a paper bag and he'd still be upset—it was their very existence that was bothering him. How was he supposed to prove his superiority when three stupid kids made a promise to always show up and stop him? And not just any kids—kids with _superpowers!_

And then there was that girl, too.

Night Ninja scratched his chin thoughtfully. He had noticed, of course, that the girl's hair was the same shimmering white as his own. A color and texture that, he suspected from the scant television he'd watched, wasn't common.

Perhaps she was somehow related to the matter where he came from? And his lost memories?

The boy growled a bit in sudden anger. Perhaps she was the one who'd abandoned him in the first place! Or at least had had a hand in it. Then again, she hadn't seemed to recognize him… true, he and his ninjalinos were garbed in completely different clothing now that nearly completely obscured their faces, but still, how could one fail to recognize a magnificent specimen like him and his little army of pint-sized followers?

Or maybe, he thought… maybe she'd been abandoned and mind-wiped just like him.

Night Ninja sighed to himself. He didn't want to dwell on the matter. He didn't want to know where he came from, not really. Wherever he came from was obviously somewhere that didn't want him and had discarded him, so he was obviously better off now anyway. And if that girl did know where he came from, well, she could keep it to herself. She was annoying anyway.

A few ninjalinos approached him. _"Night Ninja?" _one asked. _"If—if that's what you want us to call you, that is—"_

"Of course that's what I want you to call me!" Night Ninja exclaimed. "I like the way that sounds."

The ninjalinos all brightened with approval. _"We do too!" _one said.

"_So then, Night Ninja," _continued the first, _"what's the plan now?"_

"Right now, make more sticky splats. Lots more!" Night Ninja's brow furrowed into his mask. "We need to show those PJ Masks who _really _owns the night!"

The ninjalinos cheered enthusiastically. _"That's right!"_

"_We'll make all the sticky splats you could ever need!"_

"_We're here for you, Night Ninja!"_

Night Ninja smiled, and although the expression couldn't be seen through his mask, his elation was apparent to his loyal followers. Maybe one with a simpler mindset than him would have dismissed this night as a defeat, but Night Ninja knew that things were only beginning.

"Those PJ Masks haven't seen the last of me!"

…

Luna Girl pulled open the door to her pod, the pod that she suspected would be serving as her home for the time being.

It wasn't much. It was small and simple. But it, and her luna board and luna magnet, were all that she had.

But not for long.

"Those stupid PJ Masks," she muttered, examining her luna magnet. It had taken quite a fall and the handle was completely bent out of shape, exposing the orb and rendering it useless at the moment. Luna Girl was fairly certain she could fix it, but it might take awhile.

The moths fluttered around her head. _Such horrible children, _they murmured. _Destroying your property like that._

"Seriously!" Luna Girl agreed indignantly. "They prattle on and on about taking things that don't belong to me, but at least I didn't _break _it! They're just busybodies who think they're better than everyone else and that I don't deserve the same things they do." She glumly plopped down on the ledge of the step into her pod, her chin in her hands. "It's not fair."

_No, it's not, _the moths agreed.

"I won't let them stop me again," Luna Girl declared, her eyes still downcast. "Them or that stupid ninja and his midgets. Once my luna magnet is fixed I'll take everything I want for myself and no one will stop me."

_We will help you in any way we can, _chirped the moths. _We have grown fond of you, dear Luna Girl._

Luna Girl gave a small smile. "Thanks, moths. I don't have much, but I'm glad that you're one of the things I do have."

Her eyes flittered back up towards the moon, and her expression hardened into determination.

"But I'll have more soon. Just you wait."


	6. Epilogue

Author's note (again):

And here we have the epilogue. (Make sure you read chapter five first!) Truth be told, when I first started writing this story, this section here was originally planned to be closer to the halfway point. I had every intention of detailing Romeo's first encounter with the PJ Masks as well. But my plans for that particular episode weren't very well-defined at all, and as I said earlier, this fic took long enough to write anyway, so that by the time I got here I was honestly just ready to be done with it. I think it does end the story as a whole rather nicely, in a "and the story is just beginning" kind of way that all origin stories should lol. It also still leaves the option open of continuing from here in its own story should I ever gain the inspiration to pick it back up.

I'm upping the rating of this story due to just a few lines in this last part. You'll understand why when you get there.

And lastly, I'd like to thank all of my readers and reviewers. Your support means a lot to me!

-Commander

…

Far, far on the outskirts of town, where few ventured…

Federico Mecano staggered his way into his opulent mansion, far past his usual quitting time at work. Beer and wine of every kind was sloshing through his system, and when the bartender had refused to pour him any more, he set off for home to partake in his own stash.

There was not enough alcohol in the world for this day.

Federico Mecano was a workaholic at the research facility. Not only could he come up with the most brilliant theories any of his coworkers had ever heard, he could also test them and implement them to real-world applications. And he put in ridiculously long hours at work—heck, many days he just stayed there overnight to continue the next morning right where he'd left off.

This day, however, he could not get any work done.

It was six years ago today exactly.

Federico flung open the front door and stumbled into the foyer. The grand entryway was mostly bare; Yvonne had taken most of her things when she left with that… _that guy_, and the rest Federico had thrown out himself.

Not from any real sadness, mind you. Federico couldn't really remember a time he'd ever been sad, and the logical part of his brain (ie, all of it) saw no need for such a debilitating, useless emotion anyway.

But anger… there had been plenty of anger.

The anger had begun shortly after he married Yvonne, sensing that she didn't fully respect him and appreciate all he'd done for him. For a woman who had grown up destitute like she had, you'd think she'd be a little more grateful that someone with money and prospects like Federico would even give her the time of day. But she was distant. Blank. Coldly regarding him some times, flat-out ignoring him the rest, but never ignoring his paycheck.

He had been angry when she revealed that she was pregnant—and that he was _not_ the father. And then five days later she said that he _was_. Her answer flip-flopped throughout the entire pregnancy, the identity of the father seemingly changing to whichever answer would benefit her the most that day, with either Federico or… that _other_ guy.

Federico got _really_ angry thinking about him.

Even after the baby was born, she still never came clean with the truth. Oh sure, the child had Federico's last name, lived in the mansion, and since he and Yvonne were married when he was born he was listed as the father on the birth certificate automatically… but he had his doubts.

Especially when Yvonne was home less and less.

Finally, one day, she pointedly walked out of the house while he walked in, dragging a large rolling suitcase behind her, her cold blue eyes looking at him straight on for the first time in months. "I'm not coming back," she said bluntly, and taking that and (as Federico later learned) more than half of his money, HIS money from their joint bank account, walked away.

True to her word, she never came back.

As of today, she'd been keeping her word for six years now.

Growling angrily, Federico awkwardly made his way down the hallway and to the kitchen, feeling his way along the walls for support. The clatter of cupboard doors reached his ears through all the booze, and a small wheeled robot zipped past him merrily.

Federico gritted his teeth, not at all in the mood for this. What was that damn kid up to now?

The door to the dining room was open, and on the opposite corner of the room it opened up into the kitchen. And there was the boy, perched on a robotic, retractable stepladder, rummaging through the cabinets. The sound of the additional occupant in the room turned his attentions away from searching for food.

"Oh—hello, Father!" His face was apprehensive and guarded.

"What have I told you about getting into my stuff?" Federico growled.

"But—but the food's _our_ stuff, and I'm hungry," the boy protested.

"I'm not talking about that, Einstein." Federico kicked the stepladder roughly, and the boy stumbled and clung to one of the cabinets for balance, only barely keeping himself perched on the top step. His father took no care or notice of the peril he'd caused, though. "All this robotic crap you build. You're going through my supplies to build it. Those are mine and mine alone, do you hear?"

The boy glared defensively at his father. "But you never use it! It just sits in those closets forgotten and rusting away! I've been using it to create some amazing things! You need to see the robot I—"

SLAP!

Federico backhanded the boy with a direct hit to the face, and the boy tumbled to the wooden floor, crying out in pain and shock.

This did not move Federico, still glaring at him with an expression dripping with nothing but hatred.

Wincing, the boy looked up fearfully at his father, his dark blue eyes wide.

Yvonne's eyes.

Federico snapped again.

"_You ungrateful little shit! _Going through my things and using them like you _own _them! You're just like your whore of a mother! And the worst thing that bitch ever did to me was to leave you here with me when _she_ left!"

With that, he flung open the fridge, pulled out two bottles of beer, and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving the boy alone on the floor, with only the rolling robot that zipped back into the room for comfort.

The robot rolled up to its master, buzzing and whirring with concern.

And, wearily, Romeo Mecano rubbed at the side of his arm that had taken the fall. "I think I like it better when he acts like I don't exist."

The robot whirred in sympathy.

Romeo slowly stood up, his hip and leg protesting in sharp pain from the fall. Trying to ignore it, he hobbled over to the fridge, opening it up. The beer only took up one shelf; the rest was decently stocked with food that the young boy had ordered and had shipped to the house. With his father gone all the time, Romeo took to the internet to have food delivered to keep him fed, using his father's credit card. His father never noticed, or if he did he never cared, so the system worked out well enough. Romeo grabbed a small hunk of cheese and swung the door shut behind him, slowly making his way out of the kitchen and nibbling on his snack.

The robot followed him, whirring again, seemingly asking a question.

Romeo snapped back at his creation with a silencing glare. "No, I'm not staying in here while he's home! I'm going to my lab!"

The robot said nothing more, but continued to follow him through the winding hallways and out the back door.

Romeo breathed in the warm night air, already feeling a bit better. Even when his father wasn't home (which was most of the time) he wasn't in the house much; the mobile lab he'd constructed for himself a few months prior was a much more conducive environment for his genius and inventions. Parked a short way apart from the mansion, it was a welcome sight.

So was his largest and most complex robot creation, who was simply named Robot. "GOOD EVENING, MASTER," Robot greeted him, standing guard outside the lab. "THE HOUR IS VERY LATE AND I WAS NOT EXPECTING YOU."

"I know," Romeo said wearily. "I was planning on staying in the house tonight, but the paternal unit showed up and threw those plans out the window."

"I AM SORRY, MASTER. ARE YOU LIMPING?"

"I'm okay." Romeo made himself walk more naturally to his mobile lab, although the motion caused pain to shoot up his leg. He gritted his teeth through it and climbed up the ladder to the roof of his lab. "Any unusual activity tonight, Robot?"

"NONE THAT I SAW."

Romeo sighed. "I'll do one more round before calling it a night," he said. He trusted Robot's report, but he wasn't quite ready to go to bed yet—at the very least, he wanted to wait for the pain from the slap and the fall to subside a bit. Scanning the city for any unusual activity would kill some time and hopefully give his body a chance to heal, at least a little bit.

Pulling his telescope towards him, he scanned the sleepy city.

Now, there was another flaw in the animal totems' plan to keep their young charges hidden from view. They were fully prepared and equipped to hide them from public view, yes. But they hadn't counted on such advanced technology that the young genius Romeo possessed.

And as he scanned the city park, his telescope caught something _very _strange.

"What the heck is going on there?" he asked, befuddled, as his telescope presented him a very strange sight.

For starters, there was a large totem pole in the center of the park that hadn't been there before. Blue, red, and green figures were carved into it, with enough care that Romeo was pretty sure couldn't have been the work of merely a day's labor by city employees or contractors. That sight would have been strange enough, but there was more. Zipping around above the totem pole were two figures. One was red and seemed to be flying via the use of some sort of cape and/or wings, while the other was using some sort of hoverboard.

"Robot, did you see this?" Romeo demanded.

"SEE WHAT, MASTER?"

"What's going on at the park!" Romeo adjusted his telescope to scope out the base of the newly-appeared totem pole, finding an even stranger spectacle. A blue-clad and green-clad figure were standing off against another figure clad entirely in dark blue, flanked by similarly garbed smaller figures in dark purple.

"I DON'T KNOW, MASTER. I OBSERVED NOTHING UNUSUAL DURING MY SCAN OF THE CITY."

Romeo leaned in closer towards his telescope, hardly believing what he was seeing despite it appearing clear as day through his lens. "This is highly unusual," he breathed, unable to comment anything more than the obvious.

It was like something out of a movie.

The brightly-colored figures fighting against their darker-colored antagonists. The antagonists slinking away in defeat. The protagonists gathering together in front of the totem, congratulating each other, clearly discussing their next steps on the path towards righteousness.

"Do… do you know what this is, Robot?" Romeo breathed in excitement.

"NO, MASTER, IN ACTUALITY I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE EVEN OBSERVSING."

Romeo ignored his robot's quip. In fact, he barely even heard it.

For the first time in his life, something wonderful was playing out in front of him. Something that proved that the world was ready for him. His grandiose ideas and creations seemed so out of place and ill suited towards the world before tonight, but they fit right in to a world with brightly-garbed superheroes and supervillains.

And as of tonight, that world was officially his.

Well, no… not exactly. But he could _make_ that world his. He had the tools and the brains and the power to make it happen. And he could!

A small part of his mind realized that this line of thought was making him out to be one of the villains in this world, but strangely that didn't bother him that much. It was still a role he could play, a large and important role, and much more of a purpose than anything he'd had up until now.

"Robot?" he called out, lowering the telescope.

"YES, MASTER?"

"Tomorrow night, we're going to go out and meet these superheroes."

And Romeo grinned at that, bigger than he'd ever grinned before.


End file.
